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A Smartphone Keyboard App That Anticipates What You Want to Type

  • Release time:2014-06-16

  • Browse:6642


  • Typing on the glass of a smartphone can be a headache. The keyboards are tiny. Errors are easy to make, even on the simplest of words. And autocorrect, the function meant to fix typing mistakes, often introduces errors, switching words that have little to do with what people actually mean.

    Consumers’ irritation with typing has enticed the likes of Google, Apple and several start-ups to try to put the smart into smartphone keyboards — knowing that there is a big opportunity in having such a prominent place in users’ hands.

    Perhaps no company, though, has found more success with enhancing keyboards than SwiftKey, a London start-up that first released a keyboard app in 2010. SwiftKey says the app, which cost $4 until last Wednesday, when it became available free, was downloaded more than 30 million times. It ranked as one of the most popular paid smartphone applications on Google’s Play Store.

    The app predicts what you will type next by using artificial intelligence and reams of online data, including what you type on other apps, to learn what words you typically use. It then applies that information to predict what you will type next.

    “There’s huge strategic value in owning the keyboard,” said Jon Reynolds, 28, a co-founder of SwiftKey, whose app is now used on almost 250 million handsets. “Whatever app you use across your phone, we’re there.”

    SwiftKey’s technology and growth have gained the attention of some global tech giants. Google and Facebook, for example, have made inquiries about a potential takeover of the company, though no deal has ever been reached, according to several people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about such talks.

    A spokeswoman declined to comment about takeover rumors.

    Finding a long-term growth plan has not been easy. SwiftKey announced last week that it was ending its paid app business model. Instead, the app is now free, and the company charges users for extras like different colored keyboard themes.

    This so-called freemium model, which is popular with online gaming companies like King, the maker of the CandyCrush franchise, is an effort by SwiftKey to woo new consumers, particularly in developing markets. In countries like India and China, people often balk at paying for smartphone apps, preferring to download them free and pay for premium content.

    “China represents the next billion smartphone users,” said Ben Medlock, 35, a SwiftKey co-founder. “The freemium model will help us to build our user base.”

    So far, the app has been limited to Android, which allows third-party developers like SwiftKey to alter the look and feel of the operating system. SwiftKey has also teamed with handset makers including Samsung and LG, and the app is installed on many of their new high-end phones.

    Yet while the start-up is still looking to increase its users on Android, which has roughly 80 percent of the global smartphone market and typically is used in low-cost models, SwiftKey also wants to attract Apple users.

    This month, Apple announced it was opening its keyboard to third-party apps like SwiftKey. The start-up had already teamed with Evernote, the popular note-taking app, to offer its predictive keyboard on Apple’s iPhones. But now SwiftKey says it is working on a keyboard app that will work across Apple smartphone software.

    “As the Android experience gets better, Apple will have to consider opening up more,” said Richard Wong, a partner at the venture capital firm Accel Partners in California, which has invested in SwiftKey. “Despite phones’ becoming smart, most apps have remained dumb.”

    Finding success with Apple will not be easy. While Apple said other companies could develop apps for its operating system, Apple also introduced its own predictive keyboard that it will include on its new mobile operating system — a keyboard that operates a lot like SwiftKey’s product. That could make it hard to persuade users to download a separate keyboard app.

    “You need to have control of the operating system,” said Nick Dillon, a senior analyst at the technology research company Ovum in London. “That favors Apple and Google. For SwiftKey, there’s a limit to what they can do.”

    SwiftKey has built its success so far on personalization.

    By mining data from its users and other online sources, the start-up can offer different text predictions for each individual, depending on how they type, what their interests are and which language they use.

    An American user, for example, might be prompted to use the word “soccer” in a text message related to the World Cup in Brazil, while a British user would be offered “football.” In total, SwiftKey now offers word predictions in 66 languages, including Mongolian and Welsh. It is running a trial of a Japanese version and soon plans to introduce a Chinese edition.

    “We tap into a lot of different sources — it’s the best way to figure out what people are trying to type,” said Joe Osborne, who leads SwiftKey’s text prediction team. “From the get-go, we can understand exactly how you write.”

    SwiftKey can personalize its keyboard according to what and how each person writes across emails, social networks like Facebook, and mobile Internet searches on Google.

    Users have the option to link their online accounts to the app’s predictive text algorithms. SwiftKey then analyzes their personal habits on the likes of Twitter to tailor its suggestions to each user.

    The company says it complies with European data protection rules, which are more stringent than those in the United States. SwiftKey also says people must opt in to add their accounts to its system, and they are not automatically signed up for the personalization service.

    As part of SwiftKey’s global rollout, Caroline Gasperin, a Brazilian who runs the company’s language group, spent more than two years working on the Japanese version before its introduction last month. Her 11-person team had to crack the complexity of predicting words in the character-based language. The process took two years — in contrast to less than a week needed to build a similar model for a European language.

    “We started the company to make a better keyboard,” said Mr. Reynolds, the co-founder. “From the beginning, our focus has been to get on a billion handsets.”



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